Today’s woody story features a 5’10” video on Folly III, a 33’ cruiser designed by W. Holmes & built by his sons, Reginald & William, c.1920 in Sydney, Australia. Her beam is 9′ & she draws 3′.
I understand Holmes senior was a kiwi builder that moved to Sydney to build bridges & later turned his talents to wooden boats, of all shapes & sizes.
I’m sure HDK will be able to enlighten us on the man.
The Folly III design follows the look of the popular American Lake Union Dream Boats.
The video is beautifully shot in Moreton Bay, Queensland & has a ‘colourful’ commentary from the Folly III owner, Stephen Lake 🙂 Enjoy
Thanks to woody John Sloane for the heads up on the video.
Taranui was built in 1963, so just slips into the classic category, helped by the Strongman design & built with a pitched pine carvel by Sam Ford in Lyttleton.
She measures 32’ 9”, with 11’ beam & 3’6” draft. Power comes from a 80hp Toyota B4 light truck diesel, converted to marine.
Taranui is for sale on trade (thanks Ian McDonald) & currently called Havelock Marina home.
Do we know any more about where Taranui has been for the rest of her life?
Woody Has Lucky Escape in Milford Marina
Woody Murray Deeble, keeps his lovely ‘spirit of tradition’ woody – Waikiore (pictured below at Riverhead Pub) , berth at Milford Marina on Auckland’s North Shore. I have been ribbing Murray that Waikiore is long over-due some TLC (5 years between haul-outs) so out of the blue he hauls her out at the Milford Cruising Club slip. Next day a ‘new New Zealander’ has a wee parking oops & ends up in the water in Waikiore’s berth.
Some would say Murray was very lucky – others would say bad luck i.e. would have been a nice insurance claim 😉
The Rudder Cup – A Celebration of Classic Launch Racing Dec 14>15 2018
Now woodys, if I had $10 for everything woody launch owner that has told me they are entering the 2018 Rudder Cup launch race, I would be a wealthy man.
But guys, we are very fast approaching the stump up or shut up stage – entries close on 23 November, so if your going to be on the start line, we need to hear from you.
& he will send you an invitation, entry forms, notice of race etc etc.
Numbers are looking good & the standard of entrant is very broad – its not just the zoom zoomers that are entering, & in case you forgot its a handicapped race, so everyone has an fair chance of taking out the #1 prize.
If you would like to read more on the history of the Rudder Cup, click the WW link below. Also Harold Kidd has just published an article on the 2018 race in the November edition of Boating NZ magazine – it is titled ‘Old donks, young hearts’ & is a great read – its out now in good bookshops & supermarkets.
If you think being passionate about wooden boats is niche – think again, there are a lot of us out there. Waitemata Woodys has just passed 4 MILLION views and we celebrate with over 100 classic wooden boating photos
Never in a blue moon when I started this site could I have seen it becoming as popular as it has. Along the way the site has morphed to also become an awesome information source for just about anything connected to wooden boating. Some facts:
4,000,000 views
370,000 people have visited the site, most of them come back – some daily, some weekly, some just when they need to know something
2,469 stories
20,000+ photos published
A 50,000+ photo library
It wouldn’t have happened without in the early days a few fireside chats from people way more worldly in the wooden boating community than myself. The list of people that have shared their family photo albums, stories and knowledge with us is huge and the site just wouldn’t be what it is today without these people.
I’ve made so many friends, and been fortunate to rub shoulders with a lot of you in person.
So where to from here?, I would be a lier if I said I had not considered pulling the pin a few times, its a big ask publishing a wooden boating story 365 days of the year, but for every one dark day when I’m questioning why I do it – I have 100 days where someone tells me that the first thing they do every every morning is check out Waitemata Woodys, or that they print the stories and once a week when they visit grandad they read them to him, because he is nearly blind, or when we uncover the provenance of someones boat, or when we find someones long lost family boat etc etc
Aside from thanking you all for your support and asking you to keep following Waitemata Woodys – I only have one request – please keep sending us your stories & photos – you may be thinking they won’t mean much to us, but at some stage, someone will send in something and SNAP, they match & we have the makings of a great story. Email them to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The following link takes you to a Waitemata Woodys story that epitomises all that’s good about the site – you wouldn’t find content like this anywhere else – it’s gold
And in answer to all the emails re when I will be doing another Waitemata Woodys t-shirt run – the answer is before Christmas, so start saving your pennies. I’ll do another post soon re taking orders 🙂
Again many thanks to everyone. I hope you all still enjoy the site as much as I do pulling it all together. Shortly I will be sharing with you some exciting news on how WW will become even more relevant to wooden boat owners, but for now I have pulled together a random selection of 101 woody photos that have appeared on the site – enjoy 🙂
The other day I received a note from Bill Brown, the owner of the lovely yacht – Susan Jane, that featured on WW when she was being restored at Colin Brown’s Omaha yard.
Bill is a kiwi but works overseas & was delighted to see that his uncle’s old yacht – Aurora appear on WW (link below) recently. Aurora is a 22′ Harrison Butler design, built & owned by his uncle, Neil Brown c.1940’s.
Bill’s father, James Brown, a salty old dog who spent most of his time going up and down the Whangarei Harbour, in various craft, including Woodys; Sarina, (currently for sale, and whom mum and dad had their honeymoon on) Temptress and Yvonne. James passed away last April, just a few days shy of 90, having sailed his entire life, and selling his last boat at the grand old age of 80.
The timing of the WW story on Aurora was very opportune as Bill had recently been canvassing the extended family for details – with Bill’s permission I have published below the email he sent out – its an great read. Enjoy.
“I saw Aurora for sale on Trademe yesterday and I thought you might be interested in seeing these pictures of her. As far as I know Uncle Neil built her himself in Dunedin to a Norwegian design. Dad used to tell me she was built like a brick outhouse and you can see that even though she is clearly neglected, she is still a tight wee ship! The photos and advertisement make her seem much bigger than she is. I think she is only 21 feet long, making her essentially the size of a trailer sailor!
Most of you know that Uncle Neil sailed her in the famous Wellington to Lyttelton yacht race that was at the time one of New Zealand’s worst sailing tragedies. That was perhaps the first, but not the last time, that old Gran thought Uncle Neil had been lost at sea!
If I remember correctly, dad used to say that Uncle Neil ran before the storm with bare poles and with a spare anchor warp streaming out the stern. As it states in the article he eventually ended up in clear skies up off the coast of the Hawkes Bay.
The other great story I remember about Aurora that was more directly connected to dad, was that Uncle Neil asked if dad wanted to go on a summer cruise from Dunedin to Auckland to coincide with the Queen’s visit in 1953-1954. Dad said yes and that was the plan they told Gran, however when they cleared the Otago Heads Uncle Neil kept heading east! It wasn’t till then that he told dad that they were aiming to be the first pleasure yacht to visit the Chatham Islands post WW2! Uncle Neil figured that if he had told dad the truth he wouldn’t have said yes and Gran would have worried too much. I remember dad had a handwritten log of the voyage, boasting of the huge crayfish they ate when they finally arrived at Waitangi, Chatham Islands. After a few days socialising with the locals they then set a course for Auckland to visit the Queen!
I have seen her only twice in the real flesh. Once she was waiting outside the Kissing Point Boatshed that we kept the launch Yvonne in. We were returning from a weekend down the Whangarei Harbour and the owner had tracked dad down to have a chat with him about her history. I think she was then based in Tauranga. The second time I spied her she was on a swing mooring in the Tamaki River. I was at University and I had been out windsurfing and noticed her and that there was a guy in the cockpit. I stopped at her stern and explained that my uncle had built her and found out that the guy in the cockpit was readying her for sale, as her owner had been in some trouble picking up the mooring, bouncing off a few boats in the tide and had suffered a heart attack!
Uncle Neil’s second major build was the modified Woollacott – Katherine Anne, Maraval (photo below), which he built in Whangarei, at Smiths boatyard and sailed around the South Pacific and the east coast of Australia, ending up back in Dunedin. I heard that he received a RNZYS Blue Water Cruising Award for this effort, but I can’t seem to find much evidence of that. An interesting aside to this cruise was when I sailed in the Farr 9.2 Interdominion series in Perth Australia, there was a crew from Wellington, who recounted a story of Uncle Neil on Maraval being in Hobart at the same time as the finish of the Sydney- Hobart Yacht Race that they had just competed in a fully powered up ocean racing yacht. Apparently as the story goes, they left Hobart together and Uncle Neil beat them back across the Tasman!
Back in Dunedin, for summer holidays Uncle Neil would head around to Fiordland, down to Stewart Island, even on one occasion venturing to the Campbell and Auckland islands. Sometimes just for the heck of it he would throw in a circumnavigation of the South Island. On one occasion he lost Maraval, when she was washed out to see by a flood, after sheltering in Port Jackson, Jackson Bay, West Coast, only for Maraval to float out into the Tasman and a few weeks later return on to a piece of sandy West Coast beach up by Greymouth! The only reported damage to her was the broken mast and the front bollard that the farmer had tied his tow rope to as he hauled her up the beach! He re-floated her, had her towed by a fishing boat to Greymouth, built a new mast and went on his way back to Dunedin.”
I was recently contacted by Stuart Windross in regard to the 30′ launch Four Winds, built c.1936 by Dick Lang. At the time Stuart promised to send in a selection of photos from the 1970’s, when they owned her. I have to say I was blown over when I received the email – what an amazing history of the woody. Its a great tale – I’ll let Stuart tell it. Enjoy 🙂
My Mum and Dad and I (Shirley and Alistair – now both decesased- and Stuart Windross) owned Four Winds from 1975 to 1979. We bought it in close to sinking condition from the previous owner who we understand had a very rough trip back from Barrier and pretty much walked off her. There were dirty dishes in the sink and a healthy dose of mould on all surfaces when we purchased her. There was water up to our knees in the forward cabin. She was very close to both sinking and having water through the engine. Luckily we got to her just in time. When we towed her off her pile moorings in Panmure she left a health dust trail from nearly a metre of trailing mussels etc.
Once restored she was a lovely sea worthy vessel with its original Dick Lang – built dinghy that fitted the davits exactly. The Mk3 Ford Zodiac petrol engine (shudder) was reliable and cruised at 2000rpm at 2.5 gallons per hour. The rumble of her exhaust was fairly noisy though!.
Her layout was original except for the galley and a superb use of space (see pics) with:
copper fuel tank across the stern
helm to port aft at the front end of a seat/locker (with its excellent horizontal wheel well placed to rest feet on when sitting on the hatch edge). The steering worked via the vertical shaft, heavy duty rack and pinion, and two rods connected by a idler quadrant in the aft quarter.
Galley with fridge and cooker starboard aft. Remarkable were the ‘Rovers Return’ style hand pumps that supplied water to both the sink and the handbasin forward. They delivered a pint at a time as the brass and porcelain handle was pulled to 45 degrees.
Saloon with full length berths/seating ea side that could be converted to bunks (canvas and steel pole to support the back squab). Forward of each bunk was a cupboard/locker. The starboard one was for crockery, etc with captain’s locker underneath. The port one housed exhaust, header tank, tools, spares etc. Water tanks were under the bunks. The decorative panels around the port holes in the cabin sides were a burgundy style textured type of linoleum in a pebble motif. The squabs initially had their soft brown leather covers but need replacing due to water and mould damage.
Engine forward centre in the saloon with tilt-up sides creating a table. The engine was a Lees Marine conversion cooled by both keel tubes and a large brass heat exchanger fed by a Jabsco sea water pump. The pulley for this was corroded away to shaft level when we got her indicating the level of the bilge water. The gearbox activated by a hefty lever at the helm was a 2:1 reduction ‘Paragon’.
The forward cabin was separated by a sliding door forward of the engine and had full headroom for the first metre or so. It housed a double berth to port and a beautiful kauri dresser and wardrobe to starboard. The chrome fiddle rail can be seen in the pics. Under the berth were batteries, switchboard, and massive storage. A chart rack was above between the deck beams with a fascinating range of charts showing the Four Winds had travelled far afield in her heyday.
In the bow were an anchor locker aft of which was the heads (copper funnel with outlet to starboard – no holding tanks then) and a handbasin tucked port side (again with porcelain pint pump). Flush (and deck washdown via the overhead hatch) was by a water puppy pump and hose, very effective. The windlass was powered by what I believe was a Spitfire starter motor and a massive reduction box. I recall lifting the stern well clear of the water when trying to free a stuck anchor off the Needles in Onetangi. The head/basin was closed off from the other cabins by yet another Dick Lang masterpiece, a three panel folding kauri panel door similar to that between the cockpit and saloon.
The four large chromed ventilators (supplemented by a sliding window in the front of the tram-top, gave the vessel both good airflow and a classy look. The dodger on the rear cabintop was both a fine back rest for those topsides and great shelter from spray for the helmsman in heavier conditions. The flair on the bow was such that Four Winds was a very dry boat.
The original mast (which took a steadying sail) and railings added to its balanced look.
For a 30 footer she offered more usable and functional space than many much larger vessels..
We sold her pending my marriage in November 1979; house purchase beckoning.
We re-discovered her in the Weiti River about five years ago. Sadly she was minus her original dodger and railings (replaced by unflattering stainless ones) and was sporting ugly square windows cut into her cabin sides in place of her aft (saloon) portholes. She then appeared on trademe for sale and last time we checked was not visible at Stillwater.
No doubt she is still around and hopefully receiving the care and use she deserves.
Incidentally my Aunt (Valmai Windross – nee Strongman and brother of Merv) took me as a child to visit the elderly Dick Lang in Palm Beach Waiheke. He also built a 12 foot dinghy for my Grandad c1956 which the family used for many years at Onetangi and Howick.
I am happy to be contacted should you have any further questions. Somewhere I have a log that covers off some of Maughan’s use of her. If that would be useful I can hunt it out.
Regards Stuart Windross
I love these old sale & purchase agreement 🙂
14-08-2019 Update ex Stuart Windross – Stuart advised her current location is Ngunguru and he uncovered the photo below on line, the photo is credited to a Arty Green, not sure if he is the owner or just the photographer.
I was recently tipped off by the new CYA chairperson – James Mortimer, about a great tale that was unfolding on the CYA forum. It involves a gent by the name of Russ Senkovich, who owns the 54’ kiwi built, 1949, yacht Leda. Russ & his wife are thinking of bringing Leda back to NZ & ultimately selling her here. Leda left NZ in 1953 & has been off shore ever since – there is an amazing weblog on her travels & maintenance over the years, check it out here svleda.com
But let me set the scene for you on Leda, it starts with a Christopher Gordon Wilson, better known as Dooley and his brother Alexander, better known as Sandy who were both home from WWII and had a dream of racing the Fastnet. However, the war had left the NZ dollar devalued and buying a yacht was out of the question. So, of course, they decided to build one. They had in their possession a book by Uffa Fox of noteworthy yacht designs. One of the boats featured in that book was Ragna R.
Ragna R, launched in 1938, was built by Gustav Plym in Stockholm for a British client. She is a Knud Reimers a design. The Wilson brothers admired the yacht and showed the book to a fellow named Jack Taylor, whom its believed worked for Lidgards. Jack Taylor developed a full set of construction plans, including the dimensions of all the timbers needed for the project.
So, Dooley and Sandy, had their plan. Now they just needed to build their boat. The line drawings below are dated June, of 1947. Sandy would have been 25 and Dooley, 27-years old. Remarkably Leda would be sailing 29 months later. She is double-planked kauri over mangeao frames with pohutakawa knees and copper rivets. Leda’s deck is double planked kauri, her cabin is Douglas fir (Oregon pine) and pine.
Thats all you’ll get here today on WW – use the link above to read / view the full story – its a great read.
22-10-2018 Input from Neil Chalmers – Neil commented to me that the Leda post reminded Neil of a story Con Morley told him about his admiration of Knud Reimers yacht designs .
Con owned and raced ‘Freya’, a 32 foot double ender built in the 1950’s. ‘Freya’ was very similar to Reimers ‘Stor Tumlaren’ design made famous by the well known British yachtsman / author K Adlard Coles and his yacht ‘Cohoe’.
During a visit to Stockholm, Con called at the Reimers design office and met the great man himself. Reimers was very polite and formal . He mentioned to Con that he was aware several of his designs had been built in NZ , however he had never sold any plans to NZ !
2018 Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition – The New Zealand Sailing Dinghy
This years Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition, hosted by Tino Rawa Trust, at Karanga Plaza in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter, was a 3 day celebration of the New Zealand Sailing Dinghy.
The event showcased many of the successful designs that created our world class sailors & formed the backbone of your sailing clubs.
I went along on Friday morning to the opening morning tea 🙂 & rubbed shoulders with some of our wooden boating legends, these morning teas are always a special treat. We were entertained by another of Robert Brookes talks – always beautiful delivered & an entertaining insight into Auckland’s sailing past. If you have not seen Robert’s & the Brooke families latest book ‘Memories – Roads of Destiny’ (WW link below) grab a copy at Boat Books in Westhaven – its a must have / read.
I’ll let the photos tell the story of the show – enjoy.
I received an email the other day from Ken Ricketts which served to remind me I was overdue on a wee story on the ex ex Naval 22m patrol boat HDML Kuparu P3565. Her owner Scott Perry has been keeping me updated on the refit of this icon NZ Navy vessel. A fitting project as Scott is ex Navy.
Scott was at a T intersection in this life having recently lost his wife to cancer & thankfully a combination of Kuparu & his young family were the glue he needed to get thru a very traumatic period.
In Scott’s own words “Kuparu was a very big ugly mess of a job” but he rolled up the sleeves & with the help of some good friends (old & new) he re-launched her late last year.
Now the navy purists may not all agree on some of the mods but Scott is now the proud owner of a very large, comfortable woody cruiser. The ideal platform for the family to get out & about on the Waitemata Harbour & Outer Gulf & believe me they do, I have spotted them everywhere.
If you see Kuparu, give them a wave or if in a bay, row over for a chat & to admire the scale of the project Scott took on. Like all woodys, it never ends, so occasionally Scott posts on facebook looking for anyone keen on helping out with some maintenance – she is a rather large craft to do anything to e.g. clean, sand, paint etc.
Kuparu was very lucky to find an owner like Scott but the flip side is Scott was equally lucky with Kupara. Well done Scott.
(note below is a gallery of images that Ken Ricketts uplifted from a video on Lew Redwood’s fb page, I apologise for the quality – most often video > still photos = out of focus, I have tried to digitally enhance them but they are low quality, but from them you get a peek into the project
As I was writing this story I received an email from a gent named Zaps Zander, who for the past 3 years has been running, compiling and administering a blog on anything ML related i.e. from day 1 in 1943 to this month (the recent Black Watch sinking). Check out his weblog below – there are over 150 photos
Details below from the RNZN Communicators Association via Ken Ricketts.
LOA: 76′ Beam: 16′, LWL: 72′, Draft: 5′
Design or Class: W J Holt Admiralty World War II anti-submarine patrol craft
Former Name: HMNZS Pegasus P3563 > HMNZS Kuparu P3563 Q1348 WW2 number
Home Port: Auckland
Designer: W J Holt Admiralty
Boat Type: HDML, Gross Displacement: 54-ton
Number of Engines: 2, Engine Model: Mark 6 two-stroke Fodens, Total Engine Horsepower: 180-hp (each)
Builder Name: Ackerman Boat Company, Location Built: Lido Island, California, Year Built: 1943
Hull or Design No.: Q1348
Owner Name: Scott Perry, Owner Country: New Zealand
07-10-2018 Input from John Bullivant – just dug out a photo (below) of Kuparu I took probably about 15yrs ago when she was out the back of the Devonport navy base, by the Ngataringa Bay sports field. I was being watched closely as I was taking the photo by a couple of WRENS who probably thought I was after secret HDML information.
I have had a long vicarious association with Lucinda, myself & friends used to sit in the Devonport Yacht Club & look out at her moored in what appeared to be the main channel of Waitemata Harbour. I think we even took bets of how long before she sank, then one day Nathan Herbert rocks up, tracks down the owner & buys her. Her extraction & removal of her beard was covered off on WW her at the link below:
Then she was towed to Milford Marina & hauled out for a 2+ years restoration (some photos from then included above). Nathan is an engineer & very fastidious so all the work was 120%. You can view her relaunch at the WW link below:
I do not normally do ‘long’ 4sale features on WW but (a) Nathan is a mate (b) Lucinda would have to be the best presented, best looking, value for money classic woody on the market. For $30k, you will be boating this coming weekend. And for the record, given the extent of the work done on her – I think Nathan is a little low on the asking price, it should be closer to $40k in my eyes.
And the question you are all most likely thinking – “Why is he selling?” – simple answer, he had the opportunity to purchase a classic woody that has been in his family for 100+ years, you don’t pass on something like that, so Nathan is back in the restoration mode.
My advice to anyone interested in her – buy her & quick, unlike most classic woodys, she will not be on the market for long.
Below is her story & details on the restoration project.
Lucinda was built in 1930 in Auckland by LC Coulthard and has a beautifully sound single skin Kauri hull with solid kauri cabin. With the help of classic boating experts, I completed a 2.5 year restoration/rebuild of her that saw her stripped back to bare hull and cabin sides, fully checked over and all other components rebuilt/replaced. Lucinda has covered over 1000 miles since relaunch in 2016.
She is a good looker from every angle, is extremely roomy for her 27ft and uses very little fuel with her relatively modern diesel engine.
Lucinda is very seaworthy and with her high bow and V-bottom hull shape she barely rolls and rides over waves well. She is easy to manoeuvre and with her 2ft 6” draft it is easy to find safe anchorage close to shore!
All of Lucinda’s gear is built to last and top quality.
Hull
Stripped bare inside and out and repainted in Altex system.
Kauri carvel construction with copper fasteners.
Large pohutukawa knees throughout with extra large kauri knees in the bow area.
All sawn frames re-fastened.
Both bulkheads replaced, with extra sawn hardwood frames added in these areas.
New solid Jarrah engine beds fitted.
All keel bolts replaced with large custom-made copper bolts.
Keel is solid kauri with no hogging.
Decks
Foredeck (bow area) stripped back to original laid kauri deck. Some planks replaced, then whole deck ply covered and fibre glassed over.
Side decks excellent condition kauri planked with solid pohutukawa belting. Stripped bare and laid over with new fibre glass.
Cockpit roof completely replaced with treated plywood and fibre glassed over. Other cabin roofs are sound, and fibre glassed already.
Cabin sides
Solid Kauri sides stripped bare inside and out and repainted in Altex system. Windows all removed and resealed with sikaflex.
Drivetrain
c.1990 Perkins Prima 50hp diesel rebuilt (new pistons, rebuilt block, crank, valvegear, head) by Taylor Automotive in 2017.
Borg Warner velvet drive 2:1 hydraulic transmission.
Solid bronze shaft. New custom- made 4 blade propeller to match.
Steering gear
New marine grade stainless steel rudder. Teleflex cable steering.
Solid bronze shoe from keel to rudder pintle
Practical and unobtrusive Garmin GPS/fishfinder etc.
Interior
All upholstery replaced, with double V-berth in bow and two singles in saloon area.
Sink and solid kauri bench / seating in cockpit. I have always used a portable gas stove and a portable compressor fridge for simplicity, which are not included in the sale.
Full headroom in the cockpit and bridge (very tall interior in bridge) and about 5’5” in saloon area.
Marine toilet located underneath a lifting section of the for’d berth to starboard.
General fittings
Solid bronze cleats, bow roller, electric anchor capstan etc etc.
Manson Boss anchor with 16m chain, spliced to rope, very safe system.
Full-height varnished hardwood Samson post for anchoring.
Oregon mast on bronze tabernacle.
Varnished hardwood grab rails.
Top quality fitted cockpit covers.
Automatic deluge-resistant ventilators on foredeck.
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